Subject: (Bowhead) Whales get sanctuary
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 15:25:51 -0700
From: Annelise Sorg <annelise@direct.ca>
To: Vancouver Sun Letters <sunletters@png.canwest.com>
CC: Neil Reynolds <nreynolds@png.canwest.com>

RE: Whales get sanctuary (11 July 05)

Dear Editor,

It was about time the Canadian government agreed to let the community of Clyde River establish a bowhead whale sanctuary in Isabella Bay. Not only will the sanctuary help increase interest in arctic whale watching, a growing industry in the North, but hopefully it will also bring awareness to the unsustainable killing of bowhead whales in other arctic communities.

Canadians should be concerned that our government grants permits to kill bowhead whales against the recommendations of independent Canadian whale researchers and the scientific committee of the International Whaling Commission, the international authority on whales and whaling, which has classified these bowhead whale populations as "highly endangered" because there are less than 500 individual whales left. Researchers fear that even without the ongoing hunt, these whales will most likely go extinct.

So isn't it ironic that while one arm of government is now busy establishing a new whale sanctuary to protect bowheads, another arm is busy issuing whaling permits to kill bowheads? Well, these whales better stick close to their new sanctuary this August, because our government just issued another permit for hunters to go shoot bullets at passing whales until they kill and land one.

For more information on Canada's war on whales, please visit our website www.cmeps.org

Sincerely,

Annelise Sorg, Director
Canadian Marine Environment Protection Society
Box 461-1755 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC V6G 3B7 Canada
TEL (604) 736-9514
E-mail info@cmeps.org
www.cmeps.org